SPEAKER_00 0:00

What is me? What is me? They have seen one out of scene. Yes, my mom would make it woe is me. Woe is me. Woe is me. Woe is me. They have seen what I've seen.

SPEAKER_05 0:25

Greetings andor salutations and welcome to Imbibe Cinema. I'm your host, Jonathan C. Leggett. I am here along with Michael Newans and Trisha Leggett. We're going to be discussing Always Be My Maybe while imbibing uh Samuel Adams uh summer ale, and uh a few of us will actually be uh drinking Kirkland's bourbon because it's yummy. Yeah. I figure if we keep plugging Kirkland's bourbon throughout the podcasts, we might get sponsorship just saying.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

So good because it goes in way too much bourbon.

SPEAKER_05 0:59

Um so uh you know the uh Imbibe Cinema podcast is brought to you uh by the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, otherwise known as Bwiff. Um our festival uh seeks independent character-driven films of all lengths, styles, and genres. Uh to learn more, please visit us at Bwiff.com. That is BWIFF.com. Um so I guess to start off, I I will go on a limb and say that this was an amazing independent film, in my humble opinion. Um I especially liked the writing, the acting, the cast. They they made such a wonderful um nuanced film where it was beautifully character-driven. Uh the dialogue was so natural, uh, and the awkward moments were just beautiful. They weren't they weren't beyond.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

It's like the perfect level of awkward.

SPEAKER_05 1:58

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Not so awkward that it becomes like awkward that it's awkward, just like perfect.

SPEAKER_05 2:04

Yes. But uh, you know, and I I feel that that has a lot to do with the fact that the two lead characters, Ali Wong and uh uh Randall Park, uh were actually writers uh for this. And so I feel that that's one major reason why they were able to make this dialogue jump right off the page and feel so natural.

SPEAKER_04 2:28

Yeah, that's so great that you have you know your your two leads, especially in like a romantic comedy like this, your two leads who both wrote it. That's very rare, I feel like you yeah, you see them as producers. I think Trisha was talking about that. Yeah, or directors, right, but not writers.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

In fact, I think it should be mandated now. And just think how like there are people out there that are like, oh my god, they're such an amazing star, they're such a great actor, and then you're like, God, you are an awful writer. That screw was terrible. I like it so hard. Thank God these people were amazing writers.

SPEAKER_04 3:00

Yeah, they really were, and I think that also I mean that worked into their chemistry um on screen. Yeah. I just uh it was it was just very delightful. Uh I really enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_05 3:10

Yeah, there's a number of quotes that uh I know for the last couple of days I've been, you know, pulling out every once in a while.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

Right. Well, and I think it's funny when I saw the on IMDB they had uh little uh romantic comedy qu quote quiz they were giving each other. Yes. And uh they picked the quote from their film to be I punched Keanu Reeves. Yes. I don't know if it was complete, like in the face or you know, nonspecific. But uh I thought, no, there are so many other ones. And romantically speaking, like the uh one that uh is I wanna be I wanna hold your purse. Yeah the big you know speech at the end. However, I spoilers Oh yeah, they they don't get together, or do they? Who knows? In a rom-com?

SPEAKER_05 3:55

No, no, that would be a different end.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

It takes a real weird turn to the end and then they walk off with a sidekick. But no, the the one that's stuck in my head and and makes me giggle, and I and this is just disturbing about who I am as an individual. But the uh the one that I love is uh when he's talking about his current current girlfriend, uh Jenny, and he's like she's like a sexy Asian uh Winnie the Pooh because she sleeps pantless. Yes. And I'm like, I don't know why, but that just makes me giggle every time I hear it.

SPEAKER_05 4:28

Every piece of dialogue from from some of the uh you know uh awkward uh post-coital scenes uh as well as just about anything else, they rolled off the tongue so easily um that that they make some even more memorable as a quote.

SPEAKER_04 4:47

Yeah, the Parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese, yeah. Yeah. Kind of going off that.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

Um and just to clarify, that is not inappropriate. It was in the glove compartment. We don't know why. Maybe it's an emergency purpose glove compartment for it's weird.

SPEAKER_04 5:01

Or why it's like why is there parmesan cheese?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

And where is it being used? Do we want to know?

SPEAKER_05 5:07

Well, his mom does cook a lot.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

That's true.

SPEAKER_04 5:10

But I just think like, you know, it's gonna get warm in San Francisco. Like, you know, just baking, warm Parmesan cheese.

SPEAKER_05 5:20

Maybe he was trying to bake Parmesan cheese in the glove compartment. Um people have done radiator eggs, just saying.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Okay, now as far as uh the script hitting certain beats and the um what would I put this as a the the dialogue, as we've said, is very natural, very realistic. But there are beats that this film hit with the script that I think were uh subtle and uh really hit home where I was like, oh my god, I've been in that moment. Like when they haven't seen each other for a while, and there's this awkward interaction for the first few times that they meet, and then there's this reconnection in the car where he's driving her home from dinner with his girlfriend, and they kind of just start joking, and it's a little awkward, but you know, here are these two people who know each other very well, and there's that like falling back into falling back into those steps and that closeness, that intimacy that good close friends have that you can start to see coming through, or uh just the awkward conversation after uh afterwards where it is is something that's like, oh my god, I've been there, you don't know what to say, it's really uncomfortable. And you're like, this is not play out the way I've seen it on television. Not that you watch that on television, maybe in the films. I don't know. Yeah, but uh yeah, that trying to make it feel cool and then just failing miserably.

SPEAKER_05 6:44

Yeah, when he's trying to put his arm around her, but they're not gonna be.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

But it's not over the top. It's not there are lots of, and we've talked about this earlier, where like I have a deep respect for Will Farrell. I love the man Stranger Than Fiction, one of my favorite films of all time. But he's an example of somebody who I think when he does slapstick kind of comedy, he goes over the top. And to me, that's a certain certain people like that. I'm not terribly into that. I I think it's funnier when it's more downplayed. Yeah, right. Uh, and I think they the the beats that they hit uh are really, really funny. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 7:19

No, one one of the things that that that has uh struck me specifically about the script is you you you've got a uh successful female character and you've got kind of a schlub of a guy. Uh but at the same time, they don't necessarily go and fall into the more recent tropes with that. Um specifically, yes, he does need to pick himself off the bootstraps, but at no point does he like suddenly become wildly successful with his band and like you know that that now uh you know he's being picked up by an agent or anything like that. He again, the I want to hold your purse is is his realization that he's he's not uh his his social footprint? What is it what cultural footprint uh is not as large as Keattle Reeves or or such as and and so that's the reason he must die. Um but uh you know it it's but yeah. I know we're just gonna keep hitting that one. But uh no, but that I mean that's it it's nice to see that she makes the first move saying, I love you. I've always loved you, you've always been the guy.

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Like so the perfect moment to like I didn't expect that when that turnaround, and then the moment it came out, I was like, Yeah, I see your frustration, I feel your frustration, and I'm glad that you're just opening up. Right.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Well, and obviously, after that much wine, and we know it wasn't cheap wine, uh, that would happen. Uh also, uh, as far as we're gonna speak to uh strong women in film, uh, this is uh maybe a minor thing for some people, but I just want to say, hell yeah, for a romantic leading lady to wear a pair of glasses the entire time because her eyesight doesn't magically change. And you can be sexy in glasses, damn it.

SPEAKER_05 9:01

But she has paint on her overalls.

SPEAKER_06 9:14

She's gonna paint on the ponytail.

SPEAKER_05 9:23

Not as another teen movie star. There we go. We're gonna divert a little.

SPEAKER_04 9:32

Yeah. Um, but what I loved is some of the non-dialogue driven stuff that they did where it came back in a very subtle way. And uh uh the the the where she kisses him in the car, and then you know, he's like, wait, what? And then that comes back later on, and what I love is they're both sitting on they they switch sides. Yeah. So it's always like the passenger side that initiates the kiss and then immediately freaks out of reaction.

SPEAKER_01 10:01

And which is a note to everyone. If you're on the passenger side of the vehicle, it is your turn.

SPEAKER_04 10:06

Yeah, it is your it is your duty. It's not pure pressure, it's just your turn. So um like another one, you know, you you mentioned uh like the the the the postcoitus. Um it's just fun to say. Nobody puts it in conversation these days. I do frequently. But um I I love how we revisit that awkwardness uh the second time, and then it's just broken with a laugh, and all of a sudden it's it's like everything's right, everything's good. Um don't slut shame me.

SPEAKER_05 10:44

At the same time, you're you're thinking, oh my god, they're back to that same awkward, because they they did such an amazing job of playing that moment. Yes, yes, almost almost bookending it, and you're like, oh no, and then yeah, it turns out that they're both very satisfied. Not Keanu Reeves satisfied, but still satisfied. Yeah, her toes are probably not curling still right now, thinking of that moment.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Wow. Let me said John really likes Mr. Reeves.

SPEAKER_05 11:11

He plays himself, but plays himself as an asshole is even more interesting. Right. I love the suit.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

Classic. Thank you, thank you. It's my uh old tucks from prom.

SPEAKER_06 11:22

That's great. I dropped out of high school, went to work, followed my dream.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Does anyone know what a goobie chair is? I was so confused, and yet I am not googling it because I have pride.

SPEAKER_02 11:33

Oh. So you just find never knowing.

SPEAKER_04 11:37

Just never knowing. You know what? You should just drop gooby chair, I think, into uh into conversation. Be like, hey, is that a goobie chair? Really nice gooby chair. What are you talking about? That is not a goobie chair. Don't tell me what it is. I don't want to know what it is.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

It's what I think it is. Reality is perception.

SPEAKER_05 11:54

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Oh. John looked it up.

SPEAKER_05 11:57

Yes. I have no pride. I will look up this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Said gooby too much.

SPEAKER_05 12:02

Goo uh uh gooby is actually it looks like a brand.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Oh, okay. Oh, so disappointing. Yeah. But it does have, in fact, space future shag flags thing.

SPEAKER_05 12:14

Oh. It has more than one leg? It has four legs. Right. I just kept saying hand gesture. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

Some of the character dynamics coming out of the script that I uh I particularly loved was the father-son uh dynamic. Um like every time that the two of them, uh I can think of like three scenes off the top of my head. Um but uh when it was just the two of them in a room and and um their their dynamic, there was always something to learn, and I always felt like there was just so much life popping off the screen. I was just fully engaged in the natural chemistry between the two. And he's not a main character at all. You know, you kind of forget about him at a at a point. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh yeah, dad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Well, and the fact that like so many rom-coms or comedies in general, when you have a parent in the room, they're a joke. They're um like who's the father in American pie?

SPEAKER_04 13:16

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

That kind of thought. Or um uh there's a mom that I'm thinking of, and I can't remember who or where, but she's always stoned. You know, it's where you have like that off-beat parent where it's a caricature, almost a caricature, and it just seems like they're there for a laugh, but they're not really a parent, and uh Mr. Kim is. And he goes in a direction where you expect it to be dismissive, or you expect it to be uh like he just doesn't understand because parents never understand. He he does. And then some of the things that people honestly say, and I love uh where they try to answer a question, really, when you really weren't saying anything, like, you know, oh you look so good. How do you stay so young? You never age. I use shampoo on my face.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

And he's actually answering the question. It's like, no, I totally do that.

SPEAKER_05 14:12

How much money do you have? No, he's serious.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

He's asking.

SPEAKER_04 14:16

There were there were so many little surprises I feel in that where he's like, oh, okay, this is where this movie's gonna go, or oh, this is where this dialogue, the scene is gonna go, and you're like, oh pleasant surprise.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yes, and it's like, oh, I've been in that moment, or I've heard of that moment, and it's it's a really genuine but funny moment.

SPEAKER_05 14:37

It's not staged, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:39

Well, and all the awkwardness, there's so much awkward. Beautifully awkward. Oh, yeah, like when uh Mr. Kim is asking uh Sasha about her boy her fiance, yeah, and she's like, Oh, uh, he's a young 50. It's like I'm just I have no idea what to say.

SPEAKER_05 14:55

He seems like an old man or uh a little older than I would have expected. How old is he?

SPEAKER_01 14:59

And the fact she's she's pulling stuff out like he shops it under armor. Why would you tell anybody that? He's like, I have nothing to say about the man I'm going to marry, so I'm just gonna give you weird facts because I'm on the spot and I have no idea what to say.

SPEAKER_05 15:13

Yeah. Or or but one of our personal favorites, the uh the you know, I uh I'm I'm I'm an ally of the LGBTQ.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 15:22

Uh you know, uh uh thank you for your service.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

I'm sorry, what did he just say? But everybody's been a moment where you're like, I have no idea, but I want to show that I'm supportive of you, but I have no idea what I'm saying. And then you and it's it's going hor horribly. It's awful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:39

You throw the wrong foot. It just it happens.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

It happens a lot in my case.

SPEAKER_04 15:44

Well, and uh with the sequences or moments I should say when there is this awkward pause and whatnot, you know, I I I had moments when because I was just watching it myself. Um it was just me. And so um, like the the the the scene um uh when he first seats um Marcus first sees Veronica and um there's that awkward, you know, oh, you know, uh about her piercings. Oh yes. Um did you lose your piercings?

SPEAKER_05 16:15

Not all of them.

SPEAKER_04 16:16

Right. And then you know, there's this this that was probably the longest pause in it, and and I laughed, and then I was like, you know, I kind of wish I was in a movie theater and I had like 50 people around me because the reaction to that would have been totally different. Explosive, you know, yeah, it would have been hilarious where it was funny to me, yeah, but it would have been even funnier.

SPEAKER_05 16:39

There was a three-take in there because it went from him to her, back to him, back to her with like the raised eyebrow. Wall just silence. It was just their reactions to the reaction of the last reaction and and the fact that it just was that much silence. Right.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Where are these piercings? I don't see any piercings. Let my imagination take hold. This is asking a long time. Are we all going to the same place? Uh however, I I that is the difference we talked about earlier about streaming versus theater. Right. Right. And how some things kind of get lost in streaming that you would get in the theater release.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

This movie is like a good example of sure, great on streaming, but it would be cool to to to to have like a theatrical uh opportunity to see this film with a crowd. And so it's it's like sometimes I feel like it's just oh, it's gotta be streaming or oh, it's gonna be theater, but can't, you know, like like movies that come out in the theaters, they eventually are streaming. Can't like a streaming film also be showcased in a theater at some point.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

Right, we'll see. Up to a certain amount of popularity, that's true. Right, and you can't do it. Like a special screening or something.

SPEAKER_01 17:48

Historically speaking, you think of the TV made for TV movies versus theatrical. I mean, that's where we're going, right? And it's not like made for TV movies suddenly made it to the big screen, but then this is there's a big difference between what that was and what streaming is and independent film now as compared to the studio system and its control then.

SPEAKER_04 18:08

Can I talk a little bit uh about some of the editing? Just kind of going right off to like the very first moment, like the first thing you see in the movie. I have never seen a movie that has shown you so much history just with imagery um and such a creative way to be like, okay, here are these characters and let's sh show you this timeline, and then go, you know, go back in time, um, see them not going straight back to where you're going, show the the progress like of going back in time to the point where the first line of dialogue, it's like you didn't have to see any promotional material for this film to not, I mean, to to completely understand in that moment the history and where where this where where what kind of movie you were about to see. And there wasn't even a line of dialogue, it was just all told visually, and I thought that that was so perfect. I mean, that was the hook for me. For me, I was like, okay, I'm sold, I want to know what's going on. I want to see this journey.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

One of the things that caught me was, and this is now dating myself, uh, the idea that when you reconnect with somebody you haven't seen in forever, uh, that immediately afterwards, on your own time, you look them up. Oh, yeah, yeah. And you start reading about them. And they both do that in the film. And I'm like, what did people do before that? Did they just like hang out on your street and like stare into the window? Stare through your window? How spoiled are we that we can stalk each other so like classy and find up every find out everything that we wouldn't be able to find out and uh have a better jumping off point the next time you see somebody to have a reference.

SPEAKER_05 19:43

I'm not gonna lie, to to that to that argument, it's it's a good thing that she finds out about his band because what she's cyber stalking is his band.

unknown 19:52

Right.

SPEAKER_05 19:52

Whereas if he wasn't in a band, she would just be straight cyber stalking.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Also, oh famous and stuff.

SPEAKER_05 19:58

Just googling his name and going crazy like creepy stuff.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

No, that's what people do, right? They look they Google the name or they Facebook.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Well, that's what he did with her, you know. You know, reading this food and wine article.

SPEAKER_05 20:08

Yeah, famous food and wine versus so his band.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

His band, which is awesome, yeah, right? It really is. It's an awesome band. I agree. I would want to go to a show. Right. They should probably have shows to promote the film. Why not? Uh and then throw out tennis balls, and then it's it's like breaking the fourth wall. It's so what is that, synchronized? No, assuming so meta. Synergy. Synergy, that's a fun buzzword. The other thing was uh where he uh uh has a scrape band, and there is no point in the film where he's trying really hard with his band to grow beyond where he was because he was afraid to grow, and all of a sudden there's some famous record label that was happened to be in the audience and was like, oh my god, I'm gonna sign you now, and you're gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_05 20:52

At most, they end up going to the bar on the other side of town. It's it's three times the size of the dive bar they've currently been playing, but that is the big character leap for him. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 21:06

I mean, like it's that like that block basically is his life for the most part.

SPEAKER_01 21:11

16 years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:13

And I mean, it speaks to, you know, people's comfort levels. And I mean, I've met people like that, you know, where they're like, I mean, okay, maybe not a block, but you know what I mean? Like where they don't they don't want, they have no desire to leave because they that's their comfort zone.

SPEAKER_01 21:28

Well, and you're a big fish in a little pond, right? Right, yeah. You know, another beat that I really liked, how realistic it was when she when Sasha tells Veronica why her and her fiance are taking time apart, and you had seen another thing about the editing I like is you see him start to explain why he's doing this, and then you cut to her really fleshing out and explaining in detail what they're doing, right? And you can see how she's like, I have I I'm I'm I'm embracing this. Uh he sold it. Well, I'm I'm maybe I'm I'm I'm on board. And as she's re like uh re uh regurgitating it at her best friend and her best friend's like, what is wrong with you? She's getting this reaction. She's like, no, it's totally good. It's totally good. Pantry cry. Need to cry in a pantry now. Because it's like that's when you realize, no, there's something really wrong when you when you explain it to somebody else, and they're like, no, there's something really wrong with that. Right.

SPEAKER_05 22:30

Yeah. Because in your head it's wrong. But once you've I mean, just one of her hearst speech though. But it seemed like she was trying to buy into it. She was trying to rationalize.

unknown 22:42

What?

SPEAKER_04 22:43

And then like the beyond that, like the progression, it starts with that that cry, and you know, like well saying it out loud, then that cry. And then it's like, it doesn't really come up a whole lot, but you get you do watch her getting more and more upset about it to the point where she does just lash out at him. It you know, you see how it got built up to that because it was all just internalized, and you know, there's no like that just is gonna build up to a point where you're just gonna explode.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

Well, and then you wonder this character, Sasha's character, is is uh is such a interesting one in the fact that unlike a lot of uh stereotypical female leads who share with all their friends all their feelings or are kind of going over in their head, you know, the overthinking critical thing, she kind of represses a lot. Yeah, and it's and you see that like through the fact that she doesn't speak to her parents very often that we know of, and that there's a lot of stuff that is not resolved between her and her parents because we don't talk about it really, and uh uh that conversation they have in high school that uh he pretty much tells her, you know, my mom, not your mom, and that is so heartbreaking to watch. And she just she yells at him, but she runs away, like she walks away, and then it's like, is that the last conversation they had? Did they ever talk after that?

SPEAKER_04 24:09

I guess not.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

And then that's that's a lot to carry with you when you know how much that woman meant to her, and she never she obviously never talked to Mr. Kim in all that time either. Right. So it's kind of like wow, this woman bottles up a lot.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

Right.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

Well, and how that that you know, that experience, that moment, um, reliving that over and over again for what was it, 15 years? 16, yeah. Yeah. For that long, I mean you you totally get why she she uh loathes his existence when she all of a sudden is surprised, you know, by his presence um sixteen years later.

SPEAKER_05 24:53

Yeah, that's why Veronica thinks she's being cute by setting them back up. Right. He's he's not even my type anymore. What? Because he's not a douche? No, no, he is a douche. He just hides it well. Because again, Veronica doesn't necessarily know what transpired sixteen years ago.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

It's right. She probably just knows it as part of a story.

SPEAKER_05 25:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

Um she wasn't there.

SPEAKER_05 25:18

Yeah. Possibly a story that Sasha had relayed to her a number of times, and who knows how that got.

SPEAKER_01 25:25

Well, and then you you have uh Veronica has her own agenda knowledge, and it's it's not very well concealed, but it is deliberate what she does. You know, I thought it was just Mr. Kim. It says and son on the telephone.

SPEAKER_05 25:41

Well, I thought it was the you know the the sun like the in the sky. It's not even spelled the same way. There's no way.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

And you're like, that's a terrible lie, but this is the same character that's like fiction or nonfiction. I can't remember which is the real one.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Yes, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Like, my God, pregnant Siator Brain. I think the ending of the film uh is kind of abrupt. We talked about that. Oh, yeah. There's not as much denouement, not wrap-up with side characters. Everybody doesn't get their curtain call. No, you don't get Abraham Lincoln and old. Um but I mean there are a lot of films that do that, and I don't I I'm I'm curious almost to know if it was a deliberate choice, as some films do, where it's like, you don't need to know more than this. This is the end. You know, we kiss, you don't need to know the future, kind of thing. But sorry. In other cases, uh, I wonder if there was more and it was just edited out.

SPEAKER_04 26:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Or we found out what happened to Kino Reese.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

Right. It's true. The whole, you know, photo clip montage set to uh don't you forget about me, you know, where they tell us where everything that happened to each character.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

That really helped me uh with my closure in uh Game of Thrones.

SPEAKER_05 26:53

I know, right? So uh we're gonna take a couple minute break here, and uh I need to fill my glass so that I can imbibe some more, but uh we'll be right back after this.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Foxhole Creative is a production company and venue in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood. Host your next private event, screening, meeting, or project at their versatile space. Their production team is the solution to your creative needs. Whether you need a commercial or online promo video for your business, an exhibit set up for an event or festival, or a boutique crew to shoot your next short or feature film, they've got you covered. Step into their sound booth for the perfect voiceover recording and work with them for all your post-production needs. Learn more at thefoxhole.com.

SPEAKER_05 27:38

So you are listening to Imbibe Cinema. I'm Jonathan C. Leggett, and once again I am here with Michael Noah's Trisha Leggett. Do you like the show? Um, if so, please subscribe uh to make sure that you get the newest episode as soon as it becomes available. Uh rate and or leave us a review, uh, preferably a nice one, to uh help the show reach a larger audience. And uh, you know what? You can all always uh follow Impibe Cinema on Facebook and Twitter, uh, where we would post all sorts of shenanigans uh and random thoughts. Fun times. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:12

I like it.

SPEAKER_05 28:13

So uh we had previously been discussing some of the uh the scripts, the dialogue, and the editing. Uh the this film had pretty much been very cohesive on all these. Um, and one of the key factors to this in my head was pretty much the amazing cast. Uh the the they had done such an amazing job. I mean, granted, you know, obviously you've got your two head writers as your two lead actors, but the even their supporting cast, as as Trisha had mentioned earlier, had done such a great job.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Uh well they got great moments. Yeah. A lot of films, like the side characters get, you know, a gag here and there, and they have uh they represent a stereotype or uh a caricature that we're all like, oh, I get who that is. I know what that is. That's the IT guy who thinks he's your friend who's always listening in, or that's your best friend who's always telling you all the negative and never the positive. That kind of stuff where they hit a beat and you go, okay, I know one about this character and we're fine. And their scenes are usually when they're spotlighted, I think. The ones that get edited out first, be for time or for whatnot. And here they have such great moments that they give to the supporting cast, and their supporting cast to me doesn't fit like nice pigeonholes that normally do. They're uh very interesting, very and I know I've said this a lot, so forgive the redundancy, but I have been drinking, and I'm a redundant person in nation. Nature. Anyway. Nurture nurture.

SPEAKER_04 29:40

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Maybe on purpose, because I'm that good. Let me drink some more. Brings out my uh right. So anyway, uh, where were we? Oh, yes. Uh the redundancy. Redundancy. Uh it's real, uh the real people uh kind of aspect. Uh I love Tony and uh Veronica. Uh we all love Mr. Kim.

SPEAKER_05 30:05

Yes, yes, James Saito.

SPEAKER_01 30:07

And even uh Mrs. Kim in the moments that she gets before she dies. I'm sorry, spoiler alert. Wow. You know, and they never say how.

SPEAKER_05 30:20

No. He does say that there was an accident.

SPEAKER_01 30:22

So we know it was a murder.

SPEAKER_05 30:24

What?

SPEAKER_01 30:24

But no, uh tell us more. Okay, now casting out originally and wife. We were singing the prices of this film, and I do love this movie. But uh, you know, can't all be Sunshine and Roses. And no, and I wouldn't say it's necessarily a criticism. As much as I am curious to your thoughts, and uh I I just don't know if anybody does this, is you look at how we have the young cast, we have the kids, uh, because you you know, Michael had mentioned how we start in the present in our little snapshot uh historical backtrack, right? And then we get to the kids and we start with the kids. So this is a relationship that started very young, and then they get to be teenagers, and then they get to be adults. Now, Randall and Allie do an amazing job of playing high school students. They acted the hell out of that shit. However, they are not high school students, and there are kids in the in the flashback, there are kids in those segments that are high schoolers, and to me, that like makes them look even older when you have actual high school aged uh people. And so I wonder why they didn't choose to let the teenagers play the teenagers, because to me, then there's nothing lost in that, except I am wondering, because the kid high schoolers were high schoolers and they look very young, and I think maybe we'd all be a little weirded out if they had sex. Well, so even though that's what they're supposed to be doing.

SPEAKER_05 31:51

There are two pivotal moments that happen in the scenes where Allie and and and Randall are playing younger than they should be. Um, and that is Coitus, uh, as well as the um the the breakup scene. They're the breakup of not just you know a relationship, but their friendship uh flat out for 16 years. And I think that uh and and you know uh you you you hear time and again where you go into a film uh uh set and the actors talk about the fact that the first scene that they did with with uh you know their their their co-star was like the sex scene. And you wonder whether or not that's like one of those things where it's okay, do do these two A either have chemistry or can we break this but like whatever acting tensions need to be broken by having a sex scene.

SPEAKER_01 32:51

However, in this instance, the thing that we highlight in that loss of virginity, uh at least in one case that we know of, uh in that in that Toyota. Uh it was a Toyota, right? I don't remember. I don't want to give the wrong vehicle, but uh the loss of Yes Can't make no love in a Toyota. Um But the idea being that the thing that we focus on is the awkwardness of it, and uh that is something that we can all relate to and how they're trying to make it romantic or just less awkward in general, and you don't see there is no nudity, there is no that so teenagers could play that and we wouldn't be all like I feel uncomfortable. Uh I mean some unless it's Game of Thrones, then yeah, it's naked. But in this instance, I just don't I don't see why it wouldn't be. And it did confuse me, um, because I am a simpleton, and so when uh Mr. Kim shows up, I'm like, uh, and he's telling them something had happened to Mrs. Kim. I'm going, oh, are we in college? Like, I just can't picture them in high school. Right. I was confused. And uh, and um it's no knock against uh their their ability to perform as teenagers. And they did an amazing job. But I almost wonder what it would be like if you if you saw that uh differently. Because then I don't know. It's just that's that was my big kind of like, huh, I wish I could have seen it the other way.

SPEAKER_05 34:28

Though at the same time, now granted I'm I'm I'm pulling from a little bit more mainstream, but um what one of possibly my favorite comments that I had seen on on the interwebs uh was as it relates to Samuel L. Jackson in Captain Marvel and the fact that you know they're able to just drastically reduce his age through through special effects. But then you see a young Samuel L. Jackson run. And he does not run like a young man in that movie. Right. You there are points where you can see his age because they they they take the skin the the the And they do the same thing for Michael Douglas and and so but I mean this is again that's a budget thing.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

If you had Marvel's budget, you could you could make people into babies again.

SPEAKER_05 35:19

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. You wouldn't need just the braces and everything else. They could have made them look like, but again, nobody has that budget.

SPEAKER_04 35:27

But again, that's the right well and I don't think that it was necessarily needed to do that either. I mean, they're it was i i I mean, to to Trisha's point, it was not necessarily a a negative thing. Um it's just you know, it's like it's it's a moment that that takes you out. Um, but I I don't know, I forgave it pretty quickly. Yes. I mean, especially once you get into these these big matters that are clearly setting up the whole rest of the movie.

SPEAKER_05 35:54

Well, yeah, and the the the point I was trying to make is at least from an acting standpoint, you know, if if I was in those scenes, those are pretty much the jumping points for everything else that's about to follow. Right. Those are the two key moments, and they happen in rapid succession from themselves to to not be the actual boots on the ground, to not be the one that has that emotional experience would cheapen everything that comes afterwards as an actor.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Yeah, no, I I I get what you're saying, and I mean it was a great movie. Um I just I am curious, and it's they're not the only ones to do that. No, no, like there are lots of films that do that, and I kind of like wonder it's like, yeah, you're different people, but you were different people 16 years ago, and that's okay for different people to play different people. Yeah. Yeah, I just want teenagers to get more more acting work, evidently.

SPEAKER_05 36:46

More sex scenes.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

But speaking of casting, back to casting. Casting, uh I love the casting overall, it was amazing. Uh I I love the fact that there we've there's a lot of diversity in the film, and it's not just limited to uh the uh backgrounds of the individuals who are playing the roles, but uh also the diversity of the relationships. Right, thank you. Uh because uh Jenny talks about how she's poly, she was polyam. Oh yeah, but now she's married spiritually and sexually, but not really, but sort of.

SPEAKER_05 37:20

Uh Judy is dating Randall, uh Randall Park Marcus's character.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Yeah. And uh also, yeah, she's the sexy Asian dating uh Winnie the Pooh. Yes. In case you wanted to know who that was. Uh because I love that line. And uh uh and also uh Veronica is having a baby, but she's having a baby with her uh fiance, Denise. And uh and then of course uh Tony, who is all very supportive of uh the LGTB, he goes Q AI he keeps going. Um the alphabet soup. Yes. Uh uh and the fact that he says, you know, thank you for your service because he doesn't know what to say. And but I I think the more light you shine on mainstream film or uh shows, any kind of art where you show parts of uh our community at large where we aren't familiar with because we don't engage with that, that that reduces the amount of ignorance. I mean, not in a bad way necessarily, as in just you don't know. And it makes it more understanding, like you you can spread understanding through that kind of thing. And uh so I I I like that we show more and more of that in doing a a little bit of uh uh research uh on the film as in going to the I and the wow, I've been drinking page. But uh there was a there was a nice trivia moment that I liked where uh Allie had talked about how she had uh how she had specifically wanted uh Asian Americans in the film, especially in the relationship sections, and how if Keanu wasn't available, that there were other people that they had thought of and uh that Randall had thrown out Paul Giamani just because it's Paul Giamani. But the thing that I I I found interesting and Asian American. No, but it is Paul Giamatti.

SPEAKER_05 39:28

But it is Paul Giamatti.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

And uh go for him. But the thing that uh that uh made me laugh and I I thought was really sweet was the fact that she talked about how she knew that Keanu had uh Asian uh American background and because of speed, uh that her family had not shut up about it.

SPEAKER_05 39:51

Family and neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Yeah, the community had not shut up about it, so she's like, other people may have forgotten, but I was not allowed to forget.

SPEAKER_05 39:58

Yeah. He is uh uh Asian American and the Hawaiian on his paternal side.

SPEAKER_01 40:04

In case anyone wanted to know that for a trivia game at some point.

SPEAKER_05 40:08

Yeah, the things we learn.

SPEAKER_04 40:11

Key winning uh uh Jeopardy question Jeopardy question.

SPEAKER_05 40:16

That's a pub crawl question. Um but uh yeah, no, uh Keanu Reeves uh again, uh from everything I've heard about the the man, uh he he shows up uh early and helps out uh setting up craft services. Uh like he is a man among men, what he donates from his time, his money, everything. The fact that he literally gets to play a complete jackass version of himself, and yet at the same time just nail some beautiful beats. They are out at a restaurant where they they one of the one of the courses is plays the task of Caesar's salad. It's not a Caesar salad, it's just the taste of Caesar's salad.

SPEAKER_01 40:57

But they also get to wear headphones because it's a where they Yeah, it's a meal that it's a it's a meal that plays with the concept of time. How pretentious is that?

SPEAKER_05 41:08

Well, it was a sixteen thousand or sixteen hundred dollar plate sixty-four thousand dollar meal, and that is less than a residual from speed. From from speed.

SPEAKER_01 41:17

In case you were wondering.

SPEAKER_05 41:18

Yes, but but the they they're they're listening, they have they each get their own headphones so that they can listen to the deer, the venison that they are acting literally the one they are eating. And Keanu breaks down crying, says thank you, and then I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm sorry. And then at the drop of a hat just goes back to eating as if nothing had gone on. Uh like just what a wonderful role to get to get to play.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 41:48

And some of the stuff that comes out of his head or out of his mouth, where he talks about um just like I'm so profound kind of thing, where he uh uh Jenny says she's starstruck, and he's like, the only stars you should be concerned about. And she's like weeping, the one in our dreams. Yeah, he's just like weeping at oh, thank you. Like she's talking to the Dalai Lama's kills.

SPEAKER_05 42:12

Well apparently a good number of his lines were improvised, but uh yeah, uh or some of his lines were improvised, mostly his actions uh yeah, no, he gets total credit for all his karate karate moves. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 42:26

I'm sure that's you know, from all that hard work on The Matrix.

SPEAKER_05 42:30

John Wick. Oh, it's not Wick. Oh, my God. He was filming John Wick, and then you said another film.

SPEAKER_01 42:35

Another film I'm not familiar with, and you cannot remember trying to say, because it started with a P and it ended with an M.

SPEAKER_05 42:42

And amazingly enough, while this movie takes place in San Francisco, the only stuff that was filmed in San Francisco was the stuff with Keanu Reeves.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Right, because everybody loves Canada. Vancouver. I think it has something to do with how cheap it is to film in Canada and how all parts of Canada look like American cities. It's true. Like you go to Toronto, it's Chicago.

SPEAKER_05 43:01

It really is. Wow. I was in a part of Toronto that was essentially the Schomburg of Toronto. I I I shit you not.

SPEAKER_01 43:10

Like we're talking about it was so then you just have to find out what city you would like to see in America, but you know, go to Canada. Right. Like I'd like to see Houston, Canada, please.

SPEAKER_04 43:20

Here are the blueprints. Can you please build this?

SPEAKER_05 43:24

The the the the character Michelle Buteau who played uh Veronica, I I I I had to IMDB her even before, you know, uh we really went into the idea of researching this because I swear you've seen her before, right?

SPEAKER_01 43:39

Oh my god, me too.

SPEAKER_05 43:40

And and yet at the same time, when I looked at the the uh the filmography, the most of the things that that came up were not things that I immediately recognized. So uh I mean whether it's just something about her uh or or what, she she stood out in this uh Oh, speaking of people who remind you of other people.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Sorry about that. Um I get so excited I knock the furniture. Uh okay, so uh when Randall is reacting uh as Marcus uh during the whole ridiculous crazy food thing restaurant with Keanu Keanu Reeves, uh a lot of his reactions and stuff, all of a sudden I'm like, oh my God, you remind me of Seth McFarland right now. Does anybody else see see the comparison between the two?

SPEAKER_05 44:30

Yeah, see that?

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Okay, that was that thought. I'm done.

SPEAKER_05 44:35

Um but I I know that one of the last thoughts that we really kind of wanted to drive on was uh some of the symbolism that we had uh witnessed in this film.

SPEAKER_01 44:46

Yes, now to pretentious film stuff. Um no, I find what I really did love is okay, you have a chef and you have a musician, and music is uh really important to the film. And as well as the food. There are lots of sections about food. Uh when she cooks for herself, and and you wonder, is that a Sasha thing that she goes crazy, or do chefs really cook that awesome for themselves?

SPEAKER_05 45:12

Especially if they are all by themselves. Like I cannot see some chef who has been like in a kitchen for their entire day going home and being like, I'm gonna make myself this really nice meal.

SPEAKER_01 45:23

I don't know. So uh there's that, and we'll always wonder. And then there's there's the uh idea that uh Marcus and his Toyota, like his Toyota has been with him. And I'm sorry if it's not a Toyota, I'm sorry. In my head it is. Uh but it's been with him since I'm Toyota, thanks you. Yes, yes, especially when I talk about how crap car he's got.

SPEAKER_05 45:46

It's a really old Toyota. I mean, but it's still going. See how well it's lasted. Yeah, way to go, Toyota.

SPEAKER_01 45:51

You know why? Because they they're like the energizer bunny, no to energizer.

SPEAKER_04 45:54

Um just I I loved how he had to break into his own car. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:59

The passenger door will not open from the inside or the outside.

SPEAKER_01 46:04

True. And I only had that problem with the uh cavalier, Chevy Cavalier, everything fell off. No wonder people steal this stuff, it just comes off on its own.

SPEAKER_04 46:14

This message has been brought to you by Chevy.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

It is the car to steal. Anyway, wow. Um, I'm drunk, I'm not liable. I don't think that's how that works. Try that anyway. Uh, where were we? Um, no, that the here is a guy who's stuck in the same place for many years. He's not moved on, he's not grown, where she's kind of gone and not looked back at all. He's not leaving that spot. That Toyota is not either and has suffered for that uh in in uh in the process. Uh also okay, here's a stretch. I and this is the nerd in me. I'm so sorry. Um, you notice in the beginning her her restaurant is knives and mercy. Like, what kind of restaurant is that? That's disturbing. I don't know if I want to go in there. And then she goes to uh was it Saintly Fair? It's like okay, she's chilling out of it. And then she goes to Judy's way, which then brings back the fact in the ending, what I liked was, you know, we have his mom's recipes, and I I teared up. I was like, oh my god, we brought it back to the soup. It's so sweet. And then it was like all the supporting characters gotta hey, and that was it. I was like, I don't know, I got emotional, and then I just shut down. Like, oh, I acknowledge Tony lost weight. No, we can move on from that.

SPEAKER_05 47:42

Yeah. Oh, I I I see that uh uh, you know, uh um Marcus's dad is is is still with the uh the fake singer. Oh, okay, quick, quick little little vignettes about what's going on, but it just kind of like these, yeah, it was like these fun little moments.

SPEAKER_04 47:59

In credits, wasn't it? Um I can't remember. I feel like there was a little bit of credits, maybe um right beforehand. Maybe between each.

SPEAKER_01 48:09

Maybe if you didn't give everybody the nod goodbye, maybe you've just ended with that. I don't know. Um again, it's a great movie. Uh it was one of those things where you kind of went, huh. Um they were fun.

SPEAKER_04 48:21

I enjoyed, I mean, I enjoyed the little the little um scenes because you know, a little bit more of each of those characters is not a bad thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:30

No, not at all. Oh my god, yeah. I love the use of food in the film. I love the use of uh music in the film and how they were almost characters in themselves because they're an extension. It's that kind of stuff. When you see a movie and you realize that like kind of all the all the loose, there's no loose end, everything's tied together. It's a neat, well connected kind of thing. It's not like, well, that's a jump, but I guess I'll rationalize that on my own why that happened.

SPEAKER_04 49:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:04

There was it there were so many nice little details that all lined up and all supported what the overall uh character uh was or the story. And uh I, for one, are am very appreciative, and uh John will testify, and so will Michael, that uh I have a problem when there's like why did they say that? Or why did they break that rule? And I'm annoyed now. And this or or it just seemed to lack substance. It was shine, and this had so much substance. Uh and I'm I'm a big fan of that.

SPEAKER_05 49:37

It's really what what makes uh like the uh six uh Aristotlean uh elements of a play. The this oh I know. I just got I just got really pretentious over. We're gonna get edumicated people. You are it it it it nailed on the plot, it nailed on the characters, it nailed on the theme, the language, the rhythm, the spectacle, the music, everything about it really was cohesive. Um it hit everything that was was necessary to to drive a really compelling story, uh hit really awkward moments without really taking it beyond uh the point of where you leave you you break the you you leave the the idea of it for the you sacrifice the reality for the joke.

unknown 50:21

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:22

And so uh you know, I think that uh you know uh my recommendation is two thumbs up. Go see this movie if you uh uh check it out on Netflix if you haven't already.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

And if you if you don't have Netflix, go see this movie at somebody else's house and bring 50 friends because we really want to know what it's like in the theater atmosphere. So please do that.

SPEAKER_05 50:41

Uh once again, thank you to uh always be my maybe uh director, writers, everybody, cast, thank you. Uh, but uh we also greatly appreciate all of our listeners for choosing this podcast uh and supporting independent films in general, um whether it be Netflix or you know, actually going to uh an independent film festival.

SPEAKER_01 51:02

Just we know a few, one in particular.

SPEAKER_05 51:04

One in particular, but uh you know, keep your ears out for the next episode. Um hopefully we are dropping this with uh uh a couple more so that you can like Netflix. Click next and uh listen to our uh Dulcet Tones again. Um but uh dulcet. Yes. Uh so uh you know check out our show notes uh or drop us a note. And uh once again I'm Jonathan C. Liggett, and thanks for imbibing with us. And uh cheers.

SPEAKER_01 51:33

Well said, sir.